So, how you could improve the
efficiency of the heating system of the beetle?

The first solution is certainly
the most simple. It is quite obvious that a large amount of the heat conveyed
through the ducts and then directed to the windshield was dispersed because of
the contact with cold outside air.

To reduce these losses, at the VW
dealerships in the fifties was available a kit for the insulation of the entire
system. Upon request, the dealer took care also to its installation.

The most important recommendation
was to set very well the insulating material to prevent ingress of moisture
between it and the sheet metal, especially in correspondence of the heater
channels.

The kit included a series of
sleeves that were installed around the pipelines which convey the air from the
front end of the heater channel towards the windscreen (fig 1), heat exchangers
and pipelines that led the air from the heat exchanger into the cabin (Fig. 2).
The kit was completed by the insulating panels to be installed at the base of
the heater channels, which were glued to the sheet metal and secured in place
by means of shaped brackets (fig. 3).

According to the reports from
that period, the method guaranteed a sensiblie improving of the efficiency of
the system, reducing the time required to heat the passenger compartment and
also to defrost the windshield.

With
some adaptation considering the materials available today, it is still valid
and applicable.

The Standard is the poor brother of the Beetle that we all know, the Export model.Its history and evolution had developed independently and discreetly, leaving little trace in the literature in the past.Also the literature of today offers very few information on it, and when it does is often superficial, incomplete, if not simply wrong.

But Standard is not only the poor variant of the beetle, it is also an attitude, a way of seeing things, paying attention to everything, by its nature, goes unnoticed because it is not trendy, not glamor, and is not cause of admiration, emulation, desire.